


it's a side effect of love, my dear

by waveridden



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Other, Season: Twilight Mirage, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:22:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21746701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waveridden/pseuds/waveridden
Summary: Tender sets down the letter and stretches out a hand to Fourteen. They give her a dubious look, but she just wiggles her fingers. “Mark me, superstar.” (A soulmate AU.)
Relationships: Fourteen Fifteen/Tender Sky
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22
Collections: 2019 AU December Challenge





	it's a side effect of love, my dear

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is part of the AUcember series, a self-made challenge where I try to write a new AU one-shot every day. You can read all of the AUcember fics in the collection linked above. Title is from Side Effects by Jade Bird.
> 
> If you, like me, enjoy reading fic for shows that you're not caught up on: there are no major plot spoilers in this fic, but there are gestures at the larger plot. There ARE spoilers for Fourteen's names/bodies; as long as you're caught up through episode 24, you should be fine.
> 
> There are a lot of soulmate AUs out there. In this particular one, the first time you touch your soulmate, you leave behind a mark where you touched them. Additional touches don't leave additional marks.

There’s always a learning curve with the new bodies. Fourteen is used to this by now. Some bodies will be fine unless you bend over a certain way; some will be lighter or heavier or move differently. It’s part of their training to learn how to move in a body.

Worthy of Grace is easy to move inside of, almost disconcertingly so. They’re designed to glide across stages, to look almost inhuman as they move, and so Fourteen never feels completely solid as Worthy of Grace.

The other thing - and it’s a strange, minor, new thing - is that Worthy of Grace’s body can get soulmate marks.

Fourteen’s not sure if their other bodies could, or if they just never met someone they could be soulmates with. But they’re constantly meeting fans who leave brushes of color along their arms and shoulders. People talk about the meaning that they found in the things that Worthy of Grace sings, and then Fourteen will see speckles of pink and chartreuse and grey on patches of skin that were previously blank, or used to be different colors. They look like a collage.

“Well, that’s what happens when you’re, like, a celebrity, right?” Tender tosses one of the fan letters aside without looking to see where it lands. “Everyone thinks they know you. Everyone thinks you’re their soulmate.”

“Wouldn’t that mean that I mark them?” Fourteen asks. They’ve taken to wearing opera gloves, ones that reach almost up to their shoulders, and they normally pair them with shawls. It’s strange seeing their body change colors, and they’d rather avoid it if they can.

Tender shrugs. “I mean, who can say how the soulmate thing really works? People say it’s an Earth thing, it’s a divine thing, it’s a culture we came into contact with, whatever, but it seems like it works differently for different people.”

“They must have some understanding of how it works if they gave it to this body.”

“What if they can’t control it?”

Fourteen arches an eyebrow at Tender, who completely misses the gesture because she’s busy digging through fanmail for Worthy of Grace. “You think they wouldn’t carefully consider every facet of this body?”

“Oh, they would.” Tender glances up to smirk at them. “But I don’t think they were ready for you to end up inside this body. You’re bringing complications.”

“You know me,” Fourteen deadpans. “Here to cause complications.”

Tender gives them a grin, all sharpness and warmth. “Do you leave soulmarks now?”

“I haven’t seen.”

“Hm.” Tender sets down the letter and stretches out a hand to Fourteen. They give her a dubious look, but she just wiggles her fingers. “Mark me, superstar.”

“What if I don’t leave a mark because we’re not soulmates?”

Tender wrinkles her nose. “Why do you have to think about these things so much? Come on.”

Fourteen tentatively takes her hand in theirs. She feels warm, through the thin fabric of their gloves. They suppose they could take their gloves off, but, well, where’s the fun in that?

Slowly, they lift Tender’s hand to their mouth, giving her plenty of time to pull away. She doesn’t move, and Fourteen can’t help themself as they brush a kiss over the back of her knuckles. They keep their eyes on Tender the whole time so that they can see the slow, wicked grin spreading across her face.

Fourteen lowers their joined hands, and Tender lifts hers to inspect it in the light. “I didn’t realize you were such a flirt,” she purrs, so low that Fourteen feels a thrill run through them. “And I can see the mark.”

They frown. “Really?”

Tender tilts her hand, moving it back and forth just so, and the light catches on something. It’s faint, but there’s a definite gold shimmer on the back of her fingers. “You’ve got a nice color.”

“Huh,” Fourteen says. They haven’t had a color since… well, presumably since before Castlerose, and they’re not even completely certain if they had one before Castlerose. They’ve never met an agent that left marks before. Maybe it’s a recruiting thing.

Tender turns, and Fourteen can tell she’s about to say something just as sultry and flirtatious, but as soon as she sees their face, her eyes widen, and she claps her hand over her mouth. “Oh my god,” she says through her fingers. “Oh, no, Fourteen-”

“What?” Fourteen says in alarm. “Tender, what-”

She flicks a hand, and a mirror pops up in front of their face. Fourteen leans in, trying to make sense. Their face looks completely normal, except for their lips, which have a bright, electric purple smear across them.

“Oh  _ no, _ ” Fourteen groans, and Tender collapses into giggles. “Oh, this is - Prism on the makeup team is going to gut me, this cannot be happening.”

“I think it’s a great look,” Tender gasps out, still laughing the whole time. “It’s very- very-” she curls up, but one of her hands lands on Fourteen’s leg, and suddenly Fourteen is laughing too. The whole thing, they think, is completely ridiculous. Their first ever soulmark from someone they know and it’s on their mouth? Of course it’s on their mouth.

They double over laughing, leaning onto Tender’s back for support. Tender presses her face into the fabric of Fourteen’s jumpsuit. They can feel her laugh more than hear it, muffled but still bright as anything.

“People are going to have so many questions,” Fourteen hiccups, and Tender laughs even harder.

#

They don’t get to look in a mirror right away, but they’re disappointed to see that The Body Politic doesn’t have the same purple smudge across their lips. They wonder if Tender is still going to have the gold on her hand, or if it’s going to be different now.

By the time they get to the By-and-By, they’ve almost forgotten to be worried about it. It’s blessedly easy to get in touch with Tender and set up a meeting point. This body isn’t as athletic as the last couple Fourteen has had, so it’s exhausting trying to rush there, but they need to see that Tender is safe. Especially now that they know about Sui Juris.

Tender hears their footsteps as they approach, and she whirls around, a hurricane of purple and constant motion. “Fourteen,” she says immediately, and Fourteen feels a wave of relief, of fondness for this remarkable woman who knows them on sight.

“Are you alright?” they ask, trying to be brisk but they just sound frantic, even to their own ears. “Tender-”

“I’m fine,” Tender says impatiently, She lifts her hands as Fourteen gets closer, and to their relief, they can see a glimmer of gold on the back of her fingers. The mark is still there. “You’re so much smaller now.”

“Worthy of Grace was remarkably tall.”

“But still.”

Fourteen smiles, and then realizes that Tender’s hands are hovering near them, not quite touching. “Tender?”

“This is an important decision,” Tender says, frustrated. “I know it’s basically the least important thing in the world right now, but-”

“As long as it’s not the mouth again, I think it’ll be fine,” Fourteen says. Tender laughs, short and sharp, and then settles her hand on the nape of Fourteen’s neck, fingers sliding through their hair. Fourteen lifts their hand instinctively, and their fingers close around her wrist. “Tender-”

“I know intellectually that you’re fine, every time,” Tender says. Her voice is low with some kind of emotion that Fourteen doesn’t dare unpack. “I know that. But that doesn’t mean I like when it happens.”

“I know,” Fourteen murmurs. They squeeze her wrist, and her fingers relax against the back of her neck. “I’m here.”

“I can see that.”

“We have things to do-”

“Those things waited for you to get here, they can wait another minute.” She smiles, bright and cheeky as ever. “Besides, I hear that around these parts, waiting for things is kind of a big deal. They can deal with a little bit of anticipation.”

Fourteen nods, and Tender lets out a breath. They’re not sure how long they stay like that, but they’re certain that it’s not long enough.

But at last, they say, “We really should go.”

“Yeah,” Tender says on an exhale, and pulls her hand back. “Huh. You got me again.”

“What?” Fourteen stares at the back of Tender’s wrist. The mark on her opposite hand was vague, more of a suggestion of gold than anything; now, on this wrist, there’s a line of bright, shining gold. “How does that work?”

Tender shrugs. “How does any of this work?”

“How do you not want to know?”

“I’m more than happy just seeing that it works.” She lifts her other hand and waggles her fingers, a gesture that she’d done a couple of times whenever she wanted to tease Fourteen about their own soulmark.

It feels different now, like it’s not quite a joke anymore. It only reminds Fourteen of the weight of Tender’s hand on the back of their neck, of her caution in touching them. It makes them feel something warm and content, curled deep in their stomach, something that they don’t have time right now to analyze.

But they’d like to. They’d like to know what this means.

#

When they get back to the World Without End, they spend an embarrassingly long time trying to figure out a way to see the back of their neck in the mirror. It ends up involving a handheld mirror, and them sitting on the counter bent over at an awkward angle. But they can see the shape of Tender’s palm across their neck, abstract and blotchy but still there. It’s a reminder of that feeling, that warm, heavy feeling.

They take to wearing their hair up. Just because.

**Author's Note:**

> Do you also have strong feelings about soulmate colors? Come tell me all about them on Tumblr and Twitter @waveridden!


End file.
